📖 Book Review: The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

The cover of this book is absolutely stunning and the description sounds so cool - a mother who is being haunted by La Llorona.

This book is labeled horror and I suppose I can see why, because there is an overall creepy aspect to it, and some of the events that transpire with the creature qualify, but overall this doesn’t feel like a horror book. The main theme of this book is generational trauma and breaking cycles to embrace and love the self. It’s very therapy-heavy which doesn’t necessarily bother me because y’all know I LOVE THERAPY, but it just felt a bit like a bait and switch when I was expecting a horror novel.

Also, before the action picks up and the protagonist goes to therapy, the pacing is incredibly slow and Alejandra is really hard to root for. I get that she is in the depths of her depression, but it felt like a slog until she started really unpacking her shit.

I am also not entirely sure how I feel about the multiple perspectives in this book! The chapters that are added in from the past in the bloodline and from the creature’s perspective feel like they could have been incorporated better.

Overall, I did see it through and ended up rooting for Alejandra as she saw her journey to its end, but I don’t know that I’d recommend this book to others. I gave it a ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 because maybe it’s not my jam but I do see how others could really like it.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When the reader first meets Alejandra, she is very unhappy and struggling in a darkness of which she cannot escape. She is a mother and is in a marriage she has outgrown but doesn’t have the courage to leave.

One day an apparition appears, encouraging her to harm herself. This figure becomes bolder and more physical. Her children start seeing it as well.

Always keenly interested in her genealogy, it’s through therapy that Alejandra finds the strength to begin to explore her past in earnest. She learns that this demon has haunted each of her female ancestors. Very early on, an ancestor had promised her bloodline to it.

This is a modern retelling of the Mexican folk demon, La Llorona as well as a story of the power of female strength and bonding. Through the terror, Alejandra finds the strength and courage to battle the demon and find her way out of the darkness into the light.

This was my first read from this author and will not be my last!
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group / Ballantine for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF 50%. This book follows Alejandra, a burnt-out mother of three children who starts seeing La Llarona. I got really into it and really enjoyed Alejandra, but I quickly lost my interest. This was mainly due to the dialogue. EVERY CONVERSATION in this book feels extremely fake and unnatural. Characters would not have normal reactions to things. People would either be completely unfazed or overreact for no reason. And they would move on in conversations without completing it, a lot of times it didn’t make sense. There was a lot of telling how characters felt, but I didn’t understand because it wasn’t shown. Another thing I didn’t really like was La Llarona. It’s actually a fine plot point, but there would be chapters without an appearance. It started off with lots of appearances and it made sense, but then it seems like it was forgotten to Alejandra. I wish there were more ghost appearances. Overall, it started off great but then it became unbearable, at least for me. Thanks for NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC.

The Haunting of Alejandra is an extremely spooky, creepy, yet even slightly familiar read. This is a story of family, love, strength, and heart as much as it is a haunting and horror story.

The story develops as many do but it uniquely goes back and forth through time and experience and allows the reader to connect with Alejandra as well as many different generations of her family. Each family member as a voice and a part of the story in some aspect and in doing so makes this so much creepier. The horror has roots, spans time, and has a deep hold; and if that doesn’t make the readers hairs stand on end, I don’t know what would.

The legend of La Lalorna is brilliantly written and folded throughout the story. The foundation and the rules are set but also there is a strong women foundation that plays so nicely as the balance. As a woman I can connect to every aspect of this haunting story even if I haven’t yet experienced certain life milestones. The emotions this haunting pulled out of me were both expected and surprising.

The ending was stiller and a hit on every level. If you want a family story, a haunting. horror, and strong women, this is your story! I received an ARC via NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballentine and I am leaving my an review.

This story was terrifying, riveting, and left me unable to read it at night!

Alejandra is being haunted, but she isn't sure whether it's by an ancient being or herself. She has a perfect life that anyone would dream of having. A good husband who provides for her every need, three beautiful and healthy children, and her only job is to keep the family together. She should be overjoyed in life and yet, Alejandra can't help feeling like she's drowning.
Alejandra was left as a baby by her birth mother and raised in an Evangelical household so she doesn't believe in demons or evil spirits. However, she now fears for her mental health because she keeps seeing the form of a woman near surfaces of water and in her dreams they tell her horrible things that confirm her own troubled thoughts.

This story not only follows Alejandra, but generations of women in her family who deal with the weight of what it means to be a woman in a world of beastly men. I loved how this story blended old Spanish folklore about La Llorona, but then made it something completely different and even more terrifying. It tackles generational trauma, specifically for Mexican Americans, but I feel that anyone who has family that left their native homeland will find this relatable. This story though stayed true to the horror aspect and the way it was written made it easy to visualize every horrific scene. I can easily see this book being adapted into a tv series or film, and I would be sitting there front row!

Pick this up for a horrifying time that will have you looking over your shoulder at night!


(I'll post my favorite quotes and my moments when this book gets released)


*Thank you Netgalley and RandomHouse Publishing for an early e-copy in return for an honest review*

The cover is absolutely magnificent. The author is a beautiful writer. The plot and story were good but this was just not something I enjoyed myself. I feel as if others may really enjoy it! It was pretty slow for me and I feel like it was drawn out. Creepy for sure I really enjoyed that aspect. Thank you for letting me read it!

I was captivated by the cover but the story just wasn't for me. I had a hard time reading this one. thank you netgalley & the publisher for the arc, in exchange for an honest review.

I will not lie, the first thing that got my attention was the cover. The story is about a chicana, a mother of three who finds herself tormented by something. She is relatable and the author does a great job at making you want to help her through her struggles. The story starts a bit slow and somewhat repetitive but once you get into it, you are deep in it and will not want to put it down until all answers have been found. It goes back and forth, telling Alejandras story and the women in her past. I found this to be extremely interesting as it talked about each woman's struggle in their era. The tale of La Llorona is explored and as someone with a Latin background I was very spooked out while reading this. One of my favorite books and in my opinion a must read when published.

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

***(This review will be posted on Goodreads (www.goodreads.com/jrobrien99) on October 14, 2022.)

“Sometimes in life we have to endure the death of others and the death of parts of ourselves. But it is just transformation.”

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for sending me a galley of this book for review. It really was the perfect book to read during Spooky Season.

This book is very heavy with trigger warnings. There are explicit mentions of self-harm, suicide, and depression. Please be mindful of these themes going into the book.

The most basic plot of The Haunting of Alejandra is exactly what the title says. A Chicana mother is haunted by La Llorona, a haunting figure of Mexican folklore who is drawn to women in distress. However, this book alternates chapters between Alejandra’s story and other women throughout Mexican history.

There are wonderful conversations about generational trauma and female grief. The reader follows these women through time and experiences their pain firsthand. La Llorona is a symbolic representation of this female grief, so using that folk tale as the medium to discuss generational pain is an effective one. There are also enlightening discussions about Mexican culture and their relationship to death, specifically Día de los Muertos, La Catrina, and of course, La Llorona.

The Haunting of Alejandra also explores generational relationships between women. We see the relationship Alejandra has with her birth mother, having been adopted at an early age. The protagonist also struggles with connecting with her own daughters. It is a wonderful expression of female relationships and communication between generations.

The issues that I have with this novel stem mainly from the writing style. We are given very little exposition before the first interaction with the apparition, which comes literally on page 2. After that, a great deal of the exposition the reader is given is just explicitly stated instead of shown. For example, Castro tells the reader Alejandra has been having strange dreams and describes them in detail, instead of allowing Alejandra to experience a dream for herself and bring the reader along with her.

There just tends to be an over-saturation of description and internal characterization as well. The reader understands that Alejandra is not in a good state of mind and struggling with depression – we don’t need to be reminded of it every other sentence. It seems that almost every object she looks at is a cause for reflection about her mental state. I wish there was more characterization through dialogue instead of such internal reflection.

The supernatural elements were also not as fleshed out as I would have liked them to be. This apparition and “creature” sometimes has its own POV in the stories, which was a bit confusing for me at times. It seemed a bit all over the place, and I wish that it would have been more of an ethereal specter that the reader was also afraid of. Because we saw into its mind, I was not scared of it because I knew its motivation.

The book definitely improved as it went on – it was a bit difficult for me to get into at the beginning. I found that I was more interested and invested in the stories that weren’t Alejandra’s sadly. The little snippets of other womens’ stories were more interesting to me than the protagonist, which makes me wonder if this book would function better as a short story collection.

Overall, The Haunting of Alejandra has great themes and is an important dive into Chicana generational trauma, mental health issues, and dealing with grief. I learned a lot from this book, as it showed me a perspective on a culture I am personally unfamiliar with. However, the writing style and sometimes shaky plot kept me from investing fully into the characters and story. 3/5 stars.

In October, I like to get into the spirit of things and read something spooky. Fortunately, publishers and promoters who participate in the Netgalley program have noticed. I recently received an offer to review a book by one such promoter. Without further ado, I present a review of V. Castro’s The Haunting of Alejandra.
Alejandra feels like she is losing her mind. She knows she has lost her identity. An adopted child, Alejandra has always tried to please those in her life and her husband is no exception. Ever since marrying Matthew, she has done everything to please him, with one exception – after the third child, she had her tubes tied. Otherwise, she has always dropped everything to please her husband. She left her job to take care of their children for him. After finding her mother through a family tree DNA testing site and establishing a connection with her, Alejandra found herself moving from Texas to Philadelphia to better Matthew’s career. In the process, Alejandra has lost her career, her mother, and any connection to her Mexican roots.
But now, she is starting to see and hear things she can’t explain…things that make her feel less…things that make her want to cease to exist. Little does Alejandra know that a demon has attached itself to her bloodline. The demon presents itself as La Llorona, a white-veiled woman of Mexican legend who drowned her children so she could be with her new lover only to discover that her actions would push him away. The demon feeds on pain and anguish and relishes the day when it can feed on Alejandra’s soul and that of her daughter and her daughter’s daughters. Always with her, the demon has become stronger thanks to Alejandra’s stress and depression over her move to Philadelphia.
But Alejandra is perhaps stronger than the demon believes, seeking help from a therapist and curandera (healer who uses folk remedies). The help she receives causes the demon to become angry, retaliating through her children. Alejandra refuses to allow La Llorona to continue to terrorize her children and will do whatever it takes to end this stain on her bloodline. With the help of her therapist, her mother, and her strong female ancestors, Alejandra sets out on a journey to defeat this demon and banish it from her bloodline forever, but will the fight be too much for her to bear?
The Haunting of Alejandra offers up something different from what I usually read when it comes to horror. This is not your average ghost tale. When I first started the novel, I thought that Alejandra’s new home was haunted, but it was actually Alejandra herself that had a demon attached to her…and not just to her, but to most of the females in her bloodline. Now, that’s a terrifying thought! V. Castro uses Mexican folklore to weave a horrific tale of demonic attachment that results in extreme depression followed by a soul-sucking death that continues on past the original soul, consuming every descendant it can mark. Castro’s descriptiveness allows the reader to visualize the entire tale and her use of flashbacks helps tie the whole mystery behind this demonic attachment together. I loved the inclusion of Mexican folklore into this tale. I don't know enough about this culture's folklore except for a bit about Dios de los Muertos, so I can honestly say that V. Castro has done quite a bit to further my knowledge in the subject.
The story is fast-paced and the eventual battle between Alejandra and her demon is edge-of-your seat stuff. Though I felt the battle was awesome, the epilogue left a bit to be desired. That being said, I enjoyed what I read – a fast paced novel with some nasty scares and a formidable demon that presents itself as a thing of legends. The Haunting of Alejandra was so enjoyable, I completed it in a week’s time. Definitely a nice addition to my horror collection.

I really like the premise. La Llorona is always an interesting tale to explore, and The Haunting of Alejandra tells it beautifully in this generational saga. The plot is good. It’s the writing style that made me struggle to finish. The first chapter feels extremely redundant. We get it, Alejandra is miserable. She is stuck with a miserable husband, she’s lonely, and her kids give her a hard time. She is a deep and relatable main character, but so much of this book is how much her life sucks and it’s almost unbearable. The use of metaphors throughout is odd. If her heart was outside her chest it would sound like a car crash… really?

I really wanted to love this book - it sounded like the perfect spooky season read! But it just wasn't for me. I had a hard time with the writing, the conversations didn't feel natural and I couldn't stay engaged. The story of La Llorona was interesting and the horror aspects were great, I just didn't love it as much as I was hoping to.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing me with an ARC!

Alejandra is married with three young children, but she is struggling finding satisfaction with her life. She is becoming lost in a personal darkness and despair. But one evening when she feels at her lowest, she sees a ghastly woman in a white dress weeping, encouraging her to embrace her feelings. She begins to see a therapist and explore her family history, discovering that the despair and tragedy may be linked to something much darker than she first thought.

This was such a cool idea for a book, following multigenerational trauma and struggles using La Llorona lore. The author included many fascinating cultural details and was able to seamlessly incorporate Alejandra’s personal history and some Mexican folklore/history. This was the strongest aspect of the book and the part that I most enjoyed.

Unfortunately, I found it difficult to engage with this work. The author’s writing style was bland – there was a use of repetitive sentence structure, which became a huge problem due to the massive chunks of exposition this book is made up of. Even the dialogue was often large monologues that overexplained things in a way that felt absurd. The dialogue was stilted and somewhat formal, making it feel forced and unrealistic. There were also large sections of introspection by different characters, which while adding to their depth, didn’t do so in a smooth or meaningful way, making it feel like a chore to read. Related to this, the author told more than showed, adding to the disconnect. All of this took away from any amount of fright I might have felt at the monster and made it where there were only a few parts that were slightly suspenseful.

We were given so much information about Alejandra and why she was feeling what she was, but despite all this, she never felt alive. There was no emotional connection there and nothing that made her feel like more than some pages in a book, which was disappointing. The other characters were similar – despite having chapters from their POV, they all felt like they were lacking life and any real connection.

I was disappointed by this read, especially as I didn’t find this to be scary. This book has potential but needs some definite reworking. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read and review this work, which will be published April 18th, 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I received this book at the very end of August and have been taking my time with it. I wanted to enjoy the story and not speed read it to hit a yearly reading goal. That being said, I loved this book from start to finish.

What can I say about The Haunting of Alejandra?

It’s dark. It’s painful. It’s a generational curse. But it’s also about Alejandra’s personal struggles. I personally believe a lot of people will relate to Alejandra’s mental health in this book. It’s a really well written display of postpartum depression and loss of identity after having children. V.castro’s writing constantly reminds us that Alejandra loves her children, but laments about losing herself and her interests in the process of raising them. That, plus a useless husband who berates her for not being happy with the comfortable life that he’s “given” her only adds fire to the fuel. This is a horror book but it’s more than just a ghost story. It’s a woman struggle with taking care of herself.

Castro takes the tale of La Llorona and makes it her own in this story. Using the imagery of La Llorana, she’s created a horror that lingers with you after you’ve finished the book. She created a being that’s been pursuing Alejandra’s family for generations with a hunger that can’t be satisfied. The moments of horror are full of gore and suspense, especially with the final confrontation at the end. Usually, i find multiple POVs a little too much after awhile but because all of the POVs were connected to Alejandra in some way, it really showed how this creature has impacted the women through the years.

This was a beautiful book and I think V. Castro deserves all the praise she’s getting already for this. This book doesn’t come out until April 18, 2023 but I was very kindly given a digital ARC through Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine. Thank you for the early access and all opinions are my own. V. Castro is one of my favorite authors and I loved this.

I finally finished!!!! This book idk if I’m just a slow reader or whattttt but when my kindle said 1 hour left in the chapter I was turned off. BUUTTTTT I did it!!! and I’m so glad I did. The chapters have a lot to them but the story is worth it. This book was sooo interesting and had me hooked even just from it’s beautiful cover. It was interesting seeing the Mexican legend of La Llorona come to life. The author describes everything makes you feel the same way Alejandra feels. You get the POV of Alejandra in present day and also the past. This “horror” book forsure keeps you on edge and is worth the read during spooky season. This book I believe comes out April 18th 2023 and you will want to add this to your TBR. I promise.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Net Galley for the ability to read the ARC of this book for my honest review. I look forward to recommending this to friends.

a stunning literary horror - more character/psychological focused as opposed to supernatural or gory scares, really well written with some great quotes

**Rounded up to 3.85**
I enjoyed reading a book inspired by Mexican folklore. Mexican history and folklore is an area I would love to see more books of. It's rich, complex, and unfortunately not mainstream knowledge.

I am hoping the book received final edits before publication so that this author deserved the success they deserve. The beginning portion of getting to know Alejandra's mental state was too long and meandering. I understand what the author was trying to accomplish, but unfortunately it could leave to readers DNF'ing the book since it doesn't pick up until 70% in. Two- three chapters is enough if they alternate POVs are kept in the final copy.

Overall, this book was rather enjoyable.. work revisions it has the potential to be fantastic.

First of all, this cover is absolutely fantastic! I love horror based off of folklore and I was very excited that this was about a Mexican American main character with a generational curse. La Llorona is one of the creepiest urban legends in Mexico, and something I deeply connect to as a Mexican reader. My family has had experiences with La Llorona so I dived into this one with high expectations (we’re a superstitious bunch and Mexico is haunted as hell, ok). Castro put a great spin on a familiar tale. Plus there were so many rich, important themes about motherhood, generational trauma, and depression. However, I just couldn’t connect with the writing style. The dialogue between characters felt stilted and the inner monologues didn’t read any better either. I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the exchanges between characters. The last 20% a bit disappointing, but all plot points were at least resolved. I wish this had been scarier, too. The timeline shifts were interesting but I think revealing the past timelines closer to the beginning would have been more impactful. There were several typos that I’m sure will be corrected before release day, so I’m not factoring that into my rating. Overall, strong effort with lots of potential but it ended up being a miss for me. I’ve read some great reviews though from readers that enjoyed it so still worth giving a shot if you enjoy supernatural horror.

A book with my name on the cover? Yes, please! Let me tell you how excited I was that I was approved to read the Advanced Readers Copy! Also, how stunning is this cover?? This story was creepy, and I think it did a good job in building the world of Alejandra and her ancestors. Alejandra is depressed and feeling lost in her marriage and as a mom of 3. She starts hearing things and seeing a crying woman in a white dress. This woman is La Llorona, a very well known Mexican folklore entity. She is said to have drowned her children and goes around crying out for them. (When I was in second grade some kids from school told me she would take children to replace her own. I was CREEPED OUT.) Alejandra decides to reach out for help to a therapist who is also a curandera. With her therapist’s help she starts to uncover a generational curse that has haunted her lineage for centuries. She must be strong, and believe in herself, in order to break this curse and save herself and her children.

Thank you NetGalley, Del Rey, and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

My review will be posted on my Instagram account (@booksandbackstreet) closer to the publication date.

Here in the Haunting of Alejandra some of what Castro does so well really shines through. To start with, the horror: ancient, eldritch, and never what you expect; a gorgeous reconstruction of folklore and history; and while tied to death, violence, and the gore of blood, binds it to the life and blood ruled by women. This book absolutely shines in what is clearly becoming a strength for Castro and that is - hear me out - women's horror. By that, I absolutely do not mean that this is horror for women. No. I mean that it takes the blood, gore, and violence of the supernatural, matches it to the violence and brutality of history and everyday life, reminds you to think fully about all the things that blood can mean, think about where there is death and life and all the ways it can be mediated, and how we endure brutality whether natural or supernatural. It centers, in many ways, a woman's body and all the ways that a woman's body is tied to the world and time itself, as the forge that centers horror and can turn the tide either way. I've read a growing pile of horror, and Castro is visceral in a way few others match.

In addition to an incredible eye and nuance for horror and what that can mean, Castro excels at diving into history and absolutely knows where to get you in the turnabout. (view spoiler). Not only was this excavation of la Llorona pleasing in all the ways, the flashbacks in time were some of the best segments of the book, hands down. When it comes to horror, history, folklore, or story, Castro knows what they are doing.

Here's where I was a little disappointed: I've previously read Goddess of Filth, which was fantastic, but a relatively short novella. I was excited for a full length novel where there was more time for the story, more room for the writing. Instead, sometimes it felt as though the writing was there purely to serve the plot - at times, the dialogue felt stilted or sections of a chapter would feel as though it was there to take us, as effectively as possible, from one point in the story to the next. Despite Alejandra being our title character, she was the one that often felt most forced, where her ancestors often felt as though they were coming through the page. Her storyline, while the thrust of the novel, fell flat. Her growth and insights didn't always feel believable. I was hoping that was earlier in the novel as an effect of her dissociation, but it remained the same throughout. I think this may be the incredibly rare situation where, if this book had another 100 pages while adding no new plot lines, major events, or significant scenes, it would be all the better for it. (Usually I'd argue the opposite).

Overall, there are parts here that you'll love and I have no doubt stay with you - as a storyteller, Castro has power. However, the other half suffers from some mechanistic exposition and dialogue that at times stick out like a sore thumb. Still recommend, and absolutely 100% still stand by V. Castro as one to watch.